I had a long chat with Sarah yesterday about her closing down Temptation, the lovely eclectic gift shop she has run there for some years. Apparently the branch manager has his hands tied, even though on Friday alone he had had nine complaints about how Wyevale had treated a successful local entrepreneur. I just posted this review on Google to express my view.

"The garden centre is ok, staff great, nice plants, pricier than local garden centres. I will not be shopping there again however except in the sales in protest against the lack of support for a highly successful local entrepreneur who has run Temptations, a boutique qift shop at the garden centre for some years. Apparently the corporate nerds at Head Office want to bring in their own national brand to run the shop. What idiocracy. Stand back, find out what works, and shut it down. The local people will NOT like Wyevale as a result. Not this local person, anyway."

The review can be found by googling 'Wyevale garden Centre Sidmouth reviews' and following the Google reviews link.

The whole ethos of the Sidmouth garden centre died when wyevale took over, before it was run as a community asset, and we actually enjoyed our experience. I rarely go now, not the happy place it once was.... Good luck James and I hope the staff go with him as well!

When Wyevale bring in their own outlet or arrangement to replace Temptation, most of the spend there will leave the area rather than remain in regional circulation.

Since I came to Sidmouth to live I have adopted the 'Buy Local' philosophy and apply it whenever I can to support our local shops and entrepreneurs and those who rely on them for jobs.

In Totnes for example, a Transition Town where they have their own Totnes 'Green Pound' scheme, they say:

"The primary purpose of the scheme is to strengthen the local economy by incentivising people to use independent local businesses. We believe that the people of Totnes have a strong sense of identity and civic pride. Totnes’s independent businesses are crucial to that community identity.

By incentivising spending in independent businesses, the Totnes Pound helps wealth created in Totnes to stay here. Known as the multiplier effect, Totnes Pounds will be spent repeatedly only within the local economy. With sterling, much of the wealth spent in the town is lost to big international business, related management structures, remote shareholders and the boom-bust of the financial banking system. The Totnes Pound can help deepen and diversify the connections between local business people and local citizens – an important part of building a sustainable regional economy and providing high quality employment."

I only found out recently that the Vision Group secured 'Transition Town' status for Sidmouth, the 'Sustainable Sidmouth' movement. Its worth noting that:

"Transition is a movement that has been growing since 2005. It is about communities stepping up to address the big challenges they face by starting local. By coming together, they are able to crowd-source solutions. They seek to nurture a caring culture, one focused on supporting each other, both as groups or as wider communities.

In practice, they are reclaiming the economy, sparking entrepreneurship, reimagining work, reskilling themselves and weaving webs of connection and support. It’s an approach that has spread now to over 50 countries, in thousands of groups: in towns, villages, cities, Universities, schools."

Yes wyevale is not as good as the previous Local garden centre. They overstock, hence why they cannot sell plants and are left to dry out. I may start visiting Ottery st Mary nurseries instead as a protest at a local business being forced to close.

I am another old customer who will not be returning there! Dirty, casual staff, no help offered, expensive plants which have not been cared for, and especially sad to see that Caroline who ran the cafe for so long has been chased away. We had an expensive cup of tea on the terrace and then left in disgust.